Type Hotel, Blues bar Owner Cantos Music Foundation | Built 1905–1910 Province Alberta | |
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Current use National Music Center (opens 2016) Address 438 9 Ave SE, Calgary, AB T2G 0R9, Canada Similar Studio Bell - home of the Natio, Dinosaur Provincial Park, Fort Calgary, St Patrick's Island Park, The Omni King Edward H | ||
The King Edward Hotel (also known simply as The King Eddy) is a former hotel in Calgary, Alberta. It is currently abandoned, with plans of incorporating it into the Downtown East Village revitalisation project.
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History
The King Edward Hotel was built in phases between 1905 and 1910 on 9th Avenue southeast and is one of Calgary's oldest bars. It used to form part of what was dubbed “whisky row”, a stretch of hotels that sprang up along Ninth Ave. to serve travellers on the nearby railroad. During Alberta’s brief prohibition in the 1920s, the hotel was busted on more than one occasion for serving alcohol, and later made history as one of the city's first establishments to serve black and white patrons in the same room.
By the 1940s, the area had gained a seedy reputation. The bar became a working-class hangout known for its cheap beer, and the rooms above it were soon rented out for longer periods to low-income tenants. In the 1970s and 1980s, the Eddy became a blues bar. It was the oldest such bar in the city—and the oldest continuously operating hotel. It closed its doors in 2004.
In 2012 a full High Definition Laser Scan was conducted on the building (inside and outside) for historical preservation and for design purposes of the National Music Centre. A subset (exterior only) of the Laser Scan can be viewed as the building existed before being dismantled in 2013.
Today
Construction on the new National Music Centre is complete and crews have completed the painstaking task of putting the old King Eddy Hotel back together one brick at a time. In October 2013, crews started the tedious task of taking the century-old hotel apart brick-by-brick. The bricks were wrapped and stored on pallets inside a shipping container to preserve them while crews work to reassemble the structure. Even the hotel's front door step has been saved to be used again. The King Edward Hotel is a part of the new $168 million facility that includes performance spaces, recording studios, broadcasting facilities and an extensive collection of artifacts including the Canada Music Hall of Fame and the Canadian Country Music Hall of Fame.
Future
In May 2008, the National Music Centre was selected through a competitive process to work with CMLC on the King Eddy rejuvenation project. The new National Music Centre is scheduled to open in 2016.